This is the most effective response ad I have seen in my 30+ years of political engagement.
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://angelides.com
Watch the ad at either of these locations and then click to go beyond the flip.
http://www.latimes.com/...
The angry denunciations that have riven the Democratic contest for governor broke onto the television airwaves Friday night as state Controller Steve Westly started broadcasting an ad pounding rival Phil Angelides for supporting higher taxes.
Westly's spot appeared to break his pledge not to be the first candidate in the June 6 primary to run an ad attacking his opponent by name. With the election just over three weeks away, Westly's move was aimed at stopping Angelides, the state treasurer, from gaining a decisive edge in a race with no clear front-runner and a large bloc of undecided voters.
I think this new Angelides ad is the best response I have ever seen to a challenger breaking a pledge. There is nothing like stuffing a man's words into his own mouth.
I know that a lot of California Kos readers have also seen Westly's ad claiming that Angelides went negative first.
Not true.
Last month, Westly signed a pledge "not to be the first to initiate any paid advertising in this primary campaign that attacks the other by name" and challenged Angelides to do the same.
When asked how the new ad squares with that pledge, South said: "We pitched that proposal to Phil Angelides, and he didn't bite."
Angelides, he added, has attacked his rival "incessantly" for six weeks, including a Sacramento speech "ripping Steve Westly's skin off." And in a San Francisco debate this week, Angelides equated Westly "to Richard Nixon and Newt Gingrich -- in front of Steve's wife," South said.
Ads by both candidates have taken subtle jabs at each other, but Westly's is the first to mention the opponent by name.
Senior Angelides advisor Bob Mulholland called the ad "completely false."
"It looks like it's the unraveling of the Westly campaign -- breaking a pledge to all reporters about a clean campaign, like Schwarzenegger broke his promises to the people of California," Mulholland said. "Kind of a tragic end to the Westly campaign."
Hours before the attack ad hit the air, Angelides pollster Paul Maslin said in an interview that Westly would undermine voter trust if he broke his pledge to stick to a positive ad campaign.
If you watch the new Angelides ad, you'll notice Westly pledges to not to go negative on TV. Angelides' remarks about Westly were made in a speech and the comparisons to Nixon and Gingrich were valid.
Of course, Westly has all that EBay cash to fund his own ad claiming Phil went negative first.
He'll get some traction using the George W. Bush method of getting something into the public consciousness -- that is repeating it over and over and over and ...
I'm sticking with Angelides.